Chapter 165: Walking twice.
Tap. Tap.
The rehearsal room was roughly five hundred square feet.
A white line, about twenty meters long, ran diagonally across it.
Derek strolled along it once, leisurely gathering everyone's attention as he walked.
Then he walked it a second time.
Every jaw in the room dropped.
...Is that really the same person?
The man before them now carried an air of casual delinquency, an effortless swagger.
His gait, the way he handled his gaze, even the atmosphere surrounding him—nothing resembled the Derek they had just seen.
This was different from simply thinking, He's a great actor.
Watching the real Derek McCurdy and the character perform the exact same action side by side made the differences impossible to ignore.
The shell remained the same, but every trait inside it had changed.
It genuinely felt like they were looking at an entirely different person.
"Let's hear what you noticed. Karun?"
"Uh... his feet pointed farther outward, and he walked more slowly. I think he was using completely different facial muscles, too."
"Jackson?"
"Adding to that... he tilted his neck slightly twice. It felt like a habitual gesture unique to that character."
"Hmm. Hyo Joon?"
"The tension in his eyes relaxed a little. And... I think he had a very slight limp in his left leg."
After hearing a few answers, Derek casually glanced toward Yu Myeong.
"Yu Myeong?"
"Hmm... there are a lot of changes. But the biggest one has to be the axis."
Derek's expression immediately became one of I knew you'd catch that.
"Go on."
"It's about where the body's center of gravity is placed. Normally, if you watch Derek's posture, his weight sits almost perfectly on the center line. It's textbook posture. No bad habits."
He looked toward Derek.
"But the second character's axis is shifted noticeably backward."
"And what does that accomplish?"
"When the body's axis shifts backward, it naturally gives off a more arrogant or relaxed impression. Shift it forward, and it's easier to create someone impatient or servile. Or..." He smiled slightly. "...you can deliberately move the center of gravity backward on an impatient character to create a sense of contradiction."
"Hahaha!"
Derek burst into delighted laughter.
"What else? What else did you notice?"
"I also noticed the axis was twisted slightly. I think you built that in because the character had an injured leg."
Yu Myeong narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.
"It felt like you were putting just a little extra pressure on your little toe while walking..."
"...Sasha, wasn't it?"
The room went silent.
"Sasha?"
"The gangster from Midnight Surfer. You built him based on the period after he was injured while escaping the gang."
Sasha.
The gangster Derek had portrayed in Midnight Surfer.
A rough, low-life character overflowing with inexplicably convincing pride.
A madman who nevertheless revealed flashes of humanity under extreme circumstances.
One of Derek McCurdy's defining roles, beloved by audiences.
Derek hadn't acted out a single scene.
He had simply walked twenty meters.
Yet Yu Myeong had instantly recognized not only that it was Sasha...
...but exactly which point in Sasha's story it represented.
And how Derek had built that version of the character.
The contestants stood frozen with mouths hanging open.
Meanwhile...
Cold sweat slowly formed on Derek's forehead.
"...How did you know?"
"Because all of Sasha's habits and mannerisms were still there."
In truth...
Yu Myeong was just as astonished.
Shifting the body's axis wasn't an ordinary acting technique.
It sounded simple enough.
Actually performing every movement while maintaining a completely altered center of gravity was anything but.
An actor might manage it while standing still.
But the moment they started moving, their natural habits inevitably resurfaced.
Derek...
Had done it perfectly.
On the surface, he looked like an arrogant actor blessed with extraordinary talent.
Yet moments like this made it impossible to deny the truth.
That arrogance rested upon relentless effort worthy of it.
Seeing the admiration in Yu Myeong's eyes, Derek's ears reddened slightly.
He quietly turned his head away.
Then, weaving his own interpretations of various methods for altering a character's traits into the lesson, he continued teaching.
"Ahem. So your assignment for tomorrow..."
He pointed at the white line.
"...is to become someone as different from yourselves as possible while walking this line."
"I'm not telling you to use every technique I demonstrated."
"Use whatever methods are within your abilities."
"Create whatever transformations you can."
"And walk not as yourselves..."
"...but as that character."
Derek's first assignment had been given.
"Hyung, earlier you said there were lots of differences. Besides the axis... what else did you notice?"
Kai asked while they practiced individually after class.
"A lot."
"Could you explain? Please?"
Somewhere along the way Kai had apparently picked up the Korean habit of bowing politely when asking for a favor.
Yu Myeong couldn't help laughing.
"Derek McCurdy..."
He paused.
"...looks like he acts effortlessly."
"But in reality, his work is unbelievably meticulous."
He glanced at Kai.
"If you asked him to pick something up, the amount of tension in the muscles of his hand would probably be different between Derek and Sasha."
"...That much?"
Yu Myeong nodded.
"The degree to which the rib cage expands or contracts."
"The speed at which the eyelids open and close."
"The angle his eyes naturally rest at when he's absentminded."
"Every one of those can become a defining characteristic of a character."
"But... most actors don't go that far."
"The cumulative effect is enormous, but it's also incredibly difficult and tedious."
"But Derek does it."
Kai looked at him.
"...And so do you, right?"
"...Yeah."
Kai's eyes lit up.
"Then I want to try moving my axis too."
"Hmm..."
Yu Myeong smiled wryly.
"For someone at your stage, that's jumping a little too far ahead."
"I've been practicing the fundamentals."
"Even if I can't do everything we learned today, I want to master at least one important thing properly."
"...All right."
Yu Myeong nodded.
"Try it."
"And if you get stuck, ask me. I'll help."
After that, Yu Myeong immersed himself in his own practice.
Only twenty meters.
Yet even twenty meters...
An actor's performance had to remain a performance.
The day slipped by in the blink of an eye.
The following day.
Each actor walked the line twice.
Once as themselves.
Once as the character they had prepared.
Watching each performance, Derek delivered brutally honest critiques.
"You forced in too many traits. That's why your walk became awkward."
"You failed to distinguish yourself from your normal self at all. You just piled on a bunch of strange habits."
The only contestant who received even a slight nod of approval...
Was Antoine.
"Your natural posture and habits are already very clean. That allows the altered traits to settle in without feeling artificial."
Then it was Kai's turn.
"Kai Nunen. Go ahead."
After Kai completed both walks...
Derek looked genuinely surprised.
"...How much did you practice?"
"Did you even sleep?"
"..."
"The moment you shifted your body's axis on the first step, I was ready to scold you for attempting something so advanced without any foundation."
He gave Kai another careful look.
"But..."
"...you actually did it correctly."
"And you wisely left everything else alone."
"...Yes."
Kai scratched his cheek.
"I knew I wasn't capable of doing more than one thing."
"Well done."
Derek nodded firmly.
"Doing one thing correctly is exactly the right approach."
"Right now it'll only hold together for twenty meters."
"If I asked you to do anything more complicated, it'd probably fall apart."
"But you've begun building a foundation you can actually use later."
It was the first genuine praise anyone had received.
As Kai returned to his seat, he subtly puffed out his chest toward Yu Myeong.
"Next."
"Do Hyo Joon."
Hyo Joon confidently stood and completed both walks.
Then...
Derek's expression darkened.
"What exactly are you doing?"
The anger in his voice instantly silenced the entire rehearsal room.
Hyo Joon froze, completely bewildered.
"...Excuse me?"
"Is this a talent show?"
"'Look what I can do. I can do this too.'"
"No, I just... you said to add characteristics..."
Yu Myeong quietly sighed.
He wasn't particularly interested in Hyo Joon as a fellow actor.
Even so...
Watching someone dig themselves into a hole—and get caught doing it—wasn't pleasant.
"Mr. Do Hyo Joon."
Derek's voice was ice cold.
"Is acting a talent show?"
"Is it about showing everyone what you're capable of?"
Hyo Joon's performance resembled a collection of every technique he knew.
His axis had shifted forward.
One leg limped.
He dragged one foot slightly.
His blinking had become an exaggerated mannerism.
His hands moved in conspicuous habitual gestures.
Dozens upon dozens of distinctive traits had been crammed together.
In a sense...
It was impressive.
Most actors couldn't have managed that many physical alterations, whether because their bodies couldn't execute them or because they couldn't even conceive of them.
The problem was...
What kind of person was this supposed to be?
"I worked really hard..."
"Did you?"
Derek's eyes narrowed.
"Did you work hard because you wanted to satisfy yourself?"
"Or because you wanted other people to notice and praise you?"
...Sharp as ever.
In a single sentence, Derek pierced straight to the heart of the issue.
"Who is this person?"
"What's his occupation?"
"What is he trying to accomplish?"
"What kind of personality does he have?"
"Uh..."
"Characteristics aren't something you add just to make a character look unusual."
"You add them to make the audience believe the character."
He looked directly at Hyo Joon.
"Yesterday, do you remember what Mr. Yu Myeong said after watching my performance as Sasha?"
"The backward center of gravity conveyed Sasha's relaxed personality despite surviving inside the brutal world of a gang."
"The slight limp existed because Sasha had injured his leg escaping the gang."
"But he was too proud to let people notice, so he concealed it as much as possible."
He stepped closer.
"Characterization means digging deeply into a character and building a philosophy that shapes their behavior, posture, speech..."
"So tell me."
"What exactly did you build?"
The criticism was so merciless that even the people listening beside Hyo Joon felt chills run down their spines.
There was anger in Derek's voice.
Real anger.
"You did exactly the same thing during the preliminary assignment."
He exhaled sharply.
"Nothing makes me angrier..."
"...than watching someone waste talent like this."
"Other people would kill for abilities they may never achieve."
"You look at something once and can already imitate it."
"So imagine how extraordinary your acting could become if you spent all that extra time digging deeper instead."
"And yet..."
"...this is how you waste that gift."
The relentless criticism kept coming.
At last...
A single tear rolled down Hyo Joon's face.
"Think carefully."
"Are you standing here because you want to act?"
"Or because you want to show off and be praised?"
"If it's the latter..."
"...then perhaps you should reconsider whether acting is really your path."
Watching Derek like this for the first time...
Yu Myeong finally understood what Natalie had meant when she'd said there hadn't been a single dry day on the set of Killing Smile.
And then...
It was his turn.
Derek's mood was still thoroughly sour as he watched Yu Myeong step to the end of the white line.
I really wanted to concentrate on his performance...
...and then that happened right beforehand.
But the irritation began melting away the instant Yu Myeong completed his first walk.
I've noticed it before...
His walk is incredibly clean.
The absence of bad habits was one of an actor's greatest assets.
Sometimes audiences remembered an actor because of a single distinctive mannerism.
Suppose an actor habitually wrinkled the bridge of their nose whenever they smiled.
In everyday life, it might even be charming.
But if every role smiled the same way...
Audiences would begin seeing the actor instead of the character.
In severe cases...
Their immersion would completely shatter.
Yet Yu Myeong seemed almost entirely free of that danger.
His natural habits were astonishingly clean.
Now then...
Who is this character?
Yu Myeong began his second walk.
Derek found himself deeply impressed.
Just as completely as Derek himself had transformed earlier...
The actor before him folded away the shell called Yu Myeong and implanted an entirely different collection of traits.
...An exceptionally refined man.
The old-fashioned atmosphere... perhaps someone from a historical setting?
His outward demeanor is gentle, almost embracing...
...yet beneath it lies an extraordinarily powerful sense of self.
Nothing about him resembled Yu Myeong's usual calm, steadfast presence.
Within him coexisted blazing passion and razor-sharp coldness.
Yet on the surface...
He flowed with the softness of expensive silk.
And every so often...
A flicker in his eyes betrayed an unshakable determination to change the world.
The man reached the end of the white line.
He turned.
Faced Derek.
And...
He was Yu Myeong once again.
"...Hmm."
Derek spoke quietly.
"What role was that?"
He asked with complete certainty that it had been an actual character.
"A character from a film I appeared in."
"A remarkably capable historical figure who existed in Korea's past."
"I assume it was your role?"
"No."
Yu Myeong smiled.
"It was the role played by my scene partner."
...
For a moment...
Derek was completely speechless.